SCCR Parish Blog

  Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Mt. Washington (Cincinnati) trains nearly all of future parish priests for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, in addition to serving other dicoeses and religious communities. Please pray for all of our men training to be priests here in our local church.  It helps to put a name with a face, so here is the poster including all the men.  (The diocese is indicated under the picture). We will soon be putting up the printed posters with our own Cincinnati men highlighted, including of course Stephen our current seminarian intern and Patrick Blenman our previous intern. 

  Today is the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II, one of the longest-reigning popes and of course well remembered in the lifetimes of all Catholics middle-aged or older. He was truly an astonishing man and an inspiration to so many priests ordained in the last generation, including myself.  I have vivid memories of reading his encyclical letter on the sacredness of life while just a sophomore in high school and being astounded at the depth and beauty of his Catholic faith.  He was a prodigious writer whose letters will be studied for many many decades to come.  But more than just a scholar, he traveled to every corner of the globe fearlessly to bring the Gospel message to a hungry world. In a time of tremendous confusion wrought by the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, he promulgated the first universal Catechism written in centuries, which largely put an end to that confusion. He courageously stood up to the Soviet empire which tried to enslave his beloved P...

  Fra Angelico Our Lord Jesus promises us that He is the way, the truth and the light.  But the ancient philosophers remind us that there is more than one door way into Truth.  That is, it is not just a matter of transmitting facts.  The goodness and truth of God is also expressed in beauty, manifest in art and especially the sacred arts (sacred music, religious painting, sculpture and so on).  We have suffered something of a loss of the sacred arts in recent decades, but the good news it that many Catholics are working to restore it. There is a great initiative recently founded called the Angelico Project (named after a great medieval Dominican friar and painter).  They promote sacred art in various forms.  For instance, they host sacred music concerts and even such events as Catholic filmmaking seminars.  They offer several events which are free to the public.  I encourage you to check out their website . On a related note, Mt. St. Mary's ...

Under our current national political leadership, we have recently seen very aggressive movements to promote abortion and involve you in it.  For example, Joseph Biden has just reversed former President Trump's prohibition  against providing money to abortion agencies such as Planned Parenthood through the federal Title X health care act.  (As an aside, this has been one of the most vile tactics of the pro abortion forces, to repeat the lie that the destruction of an innocent child is "health care.").  The net effect is that all federal taxpayers will now be paying to fund abortions.  Planned Parenthood argues that the money can't directly fund the abortion itself - just other areas of their operations.  But that is sleight of hand since money is "fungible."  That means, as any businessman or -woman knows, that money can be transferred from one account to another, so that providing federal money to Planned Parenthood at all will in fact support the taki...

  St. Gerard Majella Please spread the word for any couples you might know struggling to bear the cross of infertility. St. Ignatius Parish in Monfort Heights (Cincinnati) is sponsoring a day of prayer , reflection and practical advice for these couples on Saturday, October 16th. I highly recommend this program.  One of the speakers is a local prolife physician who works with couples seeking to achieve pregnancy.   There will also be an opportunity to pray with a relic of St. Gerard, traditionally invoked as the patron saint of women who are pregnant or seeking to become pregnant. 

  Van Dyck, the Madonna of the Rosary History buffs (especially military history buffs) know that there are certain battles which are turning points that shape the course of a nation's history, or even the world's.  For example, some historians consider the Battle of Stalingrad or the Battle of Dunkirk the turning point of World War II. It is much the same for the presence of Christianity in the world, in a centuries-long tug of war between Christian nations and their enemies, including at many times some of the Muslim empires.   One battle that was decisive in the history of Christendom took place in the late 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire and their seemingly unstoppable Navy sought to advance into Europe.  The Battle of Lepanto in which that effort was stymied is one of the most important military events shaping the Christian faith -- so much so that Pope St. Pius V declared the date of this battle a feast day for the universal Church. On the millitary ...

  The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has recently announced the draft plan for the new "Families of Parishes (FOPs)" -- the groupings of parishes throughout the 19 counties of our local church.   These are available for viewing at the website for the Beacons of Light pastoral initiative which is attempting to formulate the best path forward for parishes in the light of declining number of active parishioners and active priests.   The parish family listing is available here . This is a draft only.  The Archbishop is not expected to finalize these groupings until some time in November  so it is possible that there could be some changes before then.  But according to the current draft, as you can see, the current two-parish South Clermont Catholic region is projected to be divided into two different FOPs.  St. Peter will be grouped with St. Bernadette (Amelia) and St. Thomas More (Withamsville).  St. Mary will be grouped with five Brown County ...

  Castel Sant'Angelo Bridge, Rome Today (October 2nd) is the Feast of the Guardian Angels.  Unfortunately, in popular Catholic devotion this has been sentimentalized as applying only to little children.  The Church's tradition, however, has always reminded us that these extra-ordinarily powerful and wise angelic beings are guides throughout our lives, and that we should turn to them as adults for guidance and assistance in staying on the path to salvation.  Pope Francis had a homily to this effect a few years ago wherein he calls them life's "traveling companions."  That's why I like this depiction above (from the famous Castel Sant'Angelo Bridge near St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City).  This guardian is gazing at the Cross, reminding us that one of the chief things these guardian angels do guard against is our taking our eyes of that Cross, on which we should focus our lives. Today's Divine Office (breviary prayer book) has a beautiful reflecti...